Clamp for connecting filamentary articles to moving traction elements



Feb. 9, 1954 Filed July 7, 1949 J. E. LODGE CLAMP FOR CONNECTINGFILAMENTARY ARTICLES TO MOVING TRACTION ELEMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1SCOGGGOC lNl/ENTOR J. E LODGE By W.

A r TORNEV E. LODGE ECTING FILAMENTARY ARTICLES T0 MOVING.TRACTIONELEMENTS Feb. 9, 1954 CLAMP FOR CONN Z'Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 7, 1949,8 4 5 3., 6 n a n n a 7 a 4 4 i "H my a, v 0 5 I a W z m Lox mu w L EATTORNEY Patented Feb. 9, 1954 ARTICLES T MENTS MOVING TRACTION ELE-Joseph E. Lodge; Baltimore, Md., assignor to Western Electric Company,Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York VApplication'July 7, 1949, Serial No. 103,486

.1 1 :This invention relates to clamps for connecting filamentaryarticles to a moving traction element, and :more particularly to clampsfor connecting an insulating compound strip to an'endless moving cableor the like.

'Inprocessing vulcanizable insulating or jacketing compounds used in themanufacture of electrical conductors the compound may be conveyed toconventional conductor insulating or jacketing apparatus in'strip formafter the various ingredients thereof are mixed in suitable mixingapparatus. In such a process the compound strip is passed through asuitable cooling device to reduce the temperature of the compound andprevent prevulcanization of thecompound before it reaches theinsulating-or jacketing apparatus. Since the compound strip-must passthrough the cooling device, suitable clamping means must be provided forthreading the strip through the device. The clamping means must bereadily'detachable from the strip after it is threaded through thecooling-device in order that the strip may be conveyed to the insulatingor jacketing apparatus. s-An object of the invention is'to provide newand improved clamps for connecting filamentary articles to movingtraction elements. Y

. Another object of the inventionis to provide new and'improved clampsfor connectingstrip material to an endless moving cable. 3

An apparatus embodying certain features of the invention which may beused to connect'a filamentary article to a moving belt, comprises a pairof hingedly mounted jaws for engaging the end of a filamentary articleto be connected'to a moving traction element, means for camming the jawstightly together on the filamentary article when the jawsaremoved in thesame'dire'ction as the moving traction element; and" means for securingthe jaws'to the moving traction'ele' mentz. A M

A clear understanding of the invention will be had from a followingdetailed descriptionof a specific embodiment thereof when read inconjunction with the appended drawings, inwhich;

Fig. 1 shows an apparatus for cooling strip ma,- terial which isprovided with a strip clamp embodying certain features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, plan view' of a clamp which may be used forthreading strip material through the cooling apparatus'shown'in Fig. 1";

Fig. 3 is a sideelevation of the clamp shown in Fig.2;"

Fig. 4 is an enlarged", fragmentary view show ingcertain elements of'thcclamp'shown in Fig. '3 intheir openpositiony 1 Claim. (01. 24-4 Fig. 5is a plan view showing certain elements 01 the clamp shown in Fig. 2 intheir open position, and Fig; 6 is a vertical sectional View taken alonglined-6 of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Fig. 1, there isshown a compound strip cooling device It] which comprises a pair ofdrums I l and I2 suitably journalled in the cooling device and driven inthe same direction by an electric motor [4 through gear reducers l5 andI6 and endless chain belts 20 and 2|. An endless cable 23 travels ingrooves 24-24 provided in the periphery of the drum H and grooves 25-25provided in the periphery of the drum l2. The cable travels from adriven splicing roll 26 positioned at the entrance end of the coolingdevice- It} to a pair of driven rolls positioned adjacent to the exitend of the cooling device one of which rolls isshown in the drawing andindicated by the numeral 21. The drums II and I2 are positioned in thecooling device so that the grooves 24-24, in the drum II, are staggeredwith respect to the grooves 25-25 provided in the drum l2.

The cooling device 50 is designed to draw a material strip 35' from theentrance end thereof adjacent to the roll 26 and pass it alternatelyover and under the drums I l and I2, and finally discharge it from theexit end thereof adjacent to the roll 21. The strip 35 may be formedfroma vulcanizable compound commonly used an an insulating covering orjacket on electrical conductors such as rubber and rubber-like compoundsor it may be formed from various thermoplastic compounds used for thesame similar purposes. The strip 35 is emerging from a stripiormingmeans associated with a conventional rubber mill or from a stripextruder, and in either case, the compound is at a substantially hightemperature as it is formed into the strip 35. As the strip 35 passesover the drums H and I2, it is subjected to a plurality of cold watersprays directed against the strip 35 by a plurality of perforated pipes35-36 which are connected to a water supply pipe 31 which reduces thetemperature of the strip to a safe value. As the strip at 40 (Fig. 1),to which the present invention is directed, for threading the leadingend of the strip 35 through the cooling device ID. The clamp 48 isdesigned to grip the leading end of the strip and the endless cable .23at any point along the cable and pull the strip through the coolingdevice along the path of travel followed by the cable. The top plate 33is provided with grooves 39-39 to receive the portionlof the clamp 43,which is connected to the cable 23.

The clamp it is provided with jaws 4i and 42 which are hingedly mountedto each other by a pin 44. The jaw 4! is provided with elongated fingers45-43 designed to intermesh with .fingers 4'l-4'l provided on the jaw32. The fingers 46-46 and ii-41 converge toward each other, and the freeends thereof are turned upwardly and downwardly at 48, respectively, soas to engage a pin 53 positioned across the ends of parallel arms i5lsecured to a body 52. This arrangement of the fingers 46-43 and 4'l4lmakes the jaws 4! and 52 slidably mounted on the pin 53, and, inaddition, the pin 59 cams the jaws M and 42 to their closed, position asthe curved ends 48- 18 engage the pin. When the jaws are slid to theleft, as shown in Fig. 4, the

jaws may be opened readily by pressing the fingers 46-46 downwardly andraising the fingers 47-947 upwardly. When the jaws are pulled to theright (Fig. 4) the pin 50 engages the underside of the fingers andforces them into their respective positions shown in Fig, 3 to close thejaws M and 42 on the strip 35. The free ends of the jaws 4i and 42 areprovided with pointed teeth ES-55 which pierce the compound strip 1 35when the jaws are closed.

The opposite end of the body 52 is provided with jaws 51 and 58 whichare hingedly joined to each other in a plier-like manner by a pin 59.The free ends of the jaws 5? and 58 are provided with cable grippingmembers and 6!, respectively, having semi-circular grooves 62-432provided in the opposed faces thereof and designed to fit the cable 23(Fig. 6) when the jaws are closed. The jaws til and 58 have operatingarms 84 and 65, respectively, which are provided with a slot 56. Theslot 66 in the arm 64, and

body 52 the arms are actuated by the pins to close the jaws and thegrips 6t and 6-! carried thereby tightly around the cable 23, as seen inFig. 2.

Operation The clamp 4f! operates in the following mannor to thread thestrip through the cooling device 10. The leading end of the strip 35,which is emerging from the suitable strip-forming means, is fed into theentrance end of the cooling device It. The clamp is positioned sothatthe teeth 555- of the jaws 4i and 42 may be closed on the end of thestrip. The clamp then is moved in the direction in which the cable 23travels through the cooling device to cause the pin to cam the fingers46=l5 and 4'l4'l inwardly. This movement of the fingers causes the teeth-55 to close more tightly on the strip 35.

After the jaws are closed on the end of the strip 35, the jaws 5,1 and58 are opened so that When the jaws are also causes the pin .50 to urgethe fingers 4646 and 4141 closer together, and close the jaws H and 42more tightly on the strip 35. The slots 66-66 are of such length thatthe pins 67 and 68 force the jaws 5! and 58 to close the grips B0 and BItightly around the cable before the pins reach the end of the respectiveslots.

When the clamp 40 carries the leading end of the strip to a pointadjacent to the roll 21, the cable is stopped so that the clamp 40 maybe removed from the strip and the cable. To remove the jaws v5! and 58from the cable 23, the jaws are-moved toward the body 52, which-movement causes the pins 6''! and E8 to spread the arms :64 and '65, andthereby open the jaws :51

and 58. When the jaws 5'! and 58 are released from the cable 23, thebody 52 is moved toward the end of the strip to disengage the pin 50from the ends of the-fingers 46-46 and 41-41. Then the fingers 46-56 arepressed downwardly and the fingers ii-47 are raised upwardly to actuatethe jaws 12d and 42 and disengage the teeth 5555 from the strip, Theclamp Ml then is removed from the cooling device 10, and the motor M isenergized torotate the drums which will pull the strip through thecooling device. Low temperature water is supplied to the pipe 31 and thepipes 36:36 which spray the water on the strip 35 passing through thecooling device.

-Whi1e the above-described clamp is particularly well adapted to threadstrip material through a strip cooling device, it maybe modified to gripvarious kinds of filamentary articles and attach them to a movingtraction element or the like without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention.

What is claimed is:

A quickly detachable, flexible clamp for con necting the leading end ofa strip of flexible material to a continuously advancing, endless cableused for threading such a strip through a tortuous path in a materialtreating apparatus, which comprises a substantially planar, U-shapedbody,

a pair of pivotally interconnected, plier-like levers pivotable about anaxis perpendicular to the plane of the body, a pair of cooperating cablegrippers pendantly mounted on one end of the plier-like levers, each ofsaid levers having an extension at the other end thereof provided with.a camming slot formed therein, a pair of pins spacedly mounted at theclosed end of the .U- shaped body and received within the camming slotsformed in the levers to slidably connect said levers to the body, saidcamming slots and pins cooperating so as to force the grippers intogripping engagement with .a cable positioned there between when the bodyis urged axially away from the levers, a pair of relatively fiat,cooperating jaws, means for hinging the jaws together intermediate theirends about a transversely dislposed axis parallel to the plane of thebody, stripengaging teeth mounted on said jaws on one side of the hinge,said jaws having intermeshing ex.- tensions converging on the other sideof the hinge, and a transverselydisposed rod-like member slidablyinterposed between the hinge and the intermeshing ends of the convergingextensions 01 the jaw, said rod-like member being mounted at itsopposite ends between the parallel sides of the U-shaped body at theopen end thereof, whereby when the body is urged axially away from thejaw elements the teeth are forced into engagement with a strip ofmaterial.

JOSEPH E. LODGE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberNumber Number Name Date Garth Jan. 8, 1884 Fouts Feb. 28, 1899 AvensonMay 22, 1928 Teel Mar. 24, 1931 Dufiy Apr. 30, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTSCountry Date Great Britain Sept. 5, 1907 Switzerland Aug. 2, 1926

